Chapter 98 Cleanup Progress: 10% The Star Territory is truly unique…
Star Territory has recruited a considerable number of talented individuals in the past year, responding quickly to various crises. All participating players receive a hot meal allowance, and the shift system has stabilized morale.
After a week of ups and downs, the territory has barely managed to get back to normal. Although monsters no longer drop money or materials, the territory is still able to maintain its current state thanks to the previous resources and the produce from the fields.
But things weren't so easy in other places.
In Chixia Town, the defensive line retreated again and again.
Originally, they were guarding the barrier around their town, but later they couldn't hold out any longer, so they simply moved everyone into the barrier between the trains leading to the Star Territory. At least this barrier could reflect damage when attacked, saving them a lot of effort.
But this is only a temporary measure. The crazed monsters have their eyes on the player, and they will chase the player wherever they hide.
The people of Chixia Town huddled inside the train's protective barrier, no different from squatting in the middle of a transparent target.
"Brother, this can't go on."
Hu Ba had just been relieved from the edge of the barrier, covered in sweat and blood. On the battlefield, the priests were constantly healing the warriors, their wounds opening and healing again, making it impossible to tell whose blood it was. His voice was terribly hoarse. "Brothers, we're taking turns, but the monsters aren't decreasing at all. Many of us are injured. If this continues, I'm afraid we really won't be able to hold on."
As the town mayor, Hu Wei stared at the ever-shrinking defensive perimeter on the map, then glanced at the tireless black shadows outside that were relentlessly crashing into the barrier. He clenched his fist and then relaxed it.
After a long pause, Hu Wei spoke, his voice hoarse from not speaking for so long, "We'll retreat to the Star Territory, taking everyone who can still move with us. Lord Lin shouldn't abandon us in our time of need."
"But where will we stay? There are so many of us..." Hu Ba hesitated.
"Squeezing into a train carriage, sleeping in a tent, sleeping on the floor, or even moving back into the basement, anything is better than staying here and being worn down to death!"
Hu Wei interrupted him, his eyes becoming resolute, "Survival is the most important thing, we can't worry about anything else now."
When Lin Nanxing received the message that the entire town of Chixia was requesting refuge, she actually breathed a sigh of relief.
The extended train track and the protective barrier, while providing considerable convenience during peacetime, have become an additional burden now that monsters are all around. The defensive area has been expanded, requiring more combat personnel to be dispersed.
But if she were to withdraw the barrier and close the passage herself, it would be tantamount to pushing the people of Chixia Town to their deaths. Now that they have decided to come over on their own, it has relieved her of her dilemma.
It just so happens that she is short of manpower for her farmland. Even if they don't help guard the territory, they can still play a significant role in farming.
"I agree to Chixia Town's request, open a temporary shelter area, guide resettlement, and prioritize treatment for the wounded." Her reply was straightforward.
Just as things were arranged here, communication requests from the five major cities came in almost simultaneously, with similar content and increasingly urgent tones.
Mayor of Beihai City: "Lord Lin, to make a long story short, our grain reserves, calculated at the lowest possible rate, can only last for a maximum of fifteen days. With the monster drops ceasing, the circulation of regular supplies has almost come to a standstill. I wonder if your territory currently has any surplus grain production?"
Mayor of Nansha City: "Lord Lin, our city's food reserves are running low. The strictest rationing system has been implemented in the city. We are willing to exchange our stockpiled rare mineral reserves for a batch of emergency rations, hoping that the quantity can at least meet the basic needs of 50,000 people for a week."
The mayor of Zhongyuan City spoke in a way that reflected her personality, concise and to the point: "Lord Lin, Zhongyuan City needs food. We can exchange it for technology patents, some medical supplies reserves, or weapons. Please inform us of feasible options and exchange rates."
Even the mayor of Xijiang City, who had a bad relationship with the Star Territory and had been blacklisted, sent a text message, saying directly: "Lord Lin, let's be frank. Xijiang is short of food. We have exploration data for most of the Northwest region. There may be high-purity energy veins there. How about we use this information to exchange for a batch of emergency food?"
Lin Nanxing looked at these messages and rubbed his temples.
In other safe zones, where people previously relied heavily on monster drops and wilderness gathering to obtain food, now that this route is cut off, their resources are dwindling at an alarming rate.
Looking around, it seems that only her Star Territory can still produce food stably.
However, the current food production of Star Territory is only enough to feed its own people, and any surplus can be used to support neighboring towns like Crimson Glow Town. But it has to feed six major cities at the same time.
That's wishful thinking.
There is indeed a lot of grain stored in the territory's warehouses, but that is life-saving grain reserved for one's own people in case of emergency. It is the bottom line and must not be touched.
These people are really shrewd. The game has entered a forced update phase, and killing monsters will no longer drop resources, but the shop hasn't closed. She doesn't believe they don't even have money to buy nutrient mud.
They're all just trying to get something for nothing.
But since everyone else was watching eagerly, even to the point of pleading, she couldn't truly be heartless and stand idly by.
After much deliberation, Lin Nanxing gritted his teeth and allocated a portion of the aid to each city that requested assistance. It wasn't much; it was just enough for most people in each city to have an extra mouthful of thin porridge each day.
Of course, these all cost money to purchase.
Lin Nanxing knew perfectly well that if a city's ten years of accumulation couldn't even last ten days, then the city might as well just be finished.
Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, the Beast Tide Season had lasted for eleven days.
The scene outside the barrier remained unchanged, with monsters surging in from the horizon as if they could never be killed or exhausted.
They attack humans tirelessly; whatever fell yesterday, they make up for it today, or even more.
The constant high pressure, the endless battles, and the seemingly endless attrition were like a dull knife slowly cutting flesh, gradually eroding people's initial fighting spirit and sense of complacency.
The players who had been relieved slumped down in the temporary rest area, staring blankly at the battlefield outside the barrier.
"Are we going to die here?" a young priest suddenly asked, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly.
The tank player next to him, who was cleaning the blood off his weapon, paused for a moment, didn't look up, and said in a muffled voice, "Die? Well, that'll have to wait until I'm completely exhausted and torn to pieces by those things. I'm afraid that by then, I won't even have the strength to die."
A female archer hugged her knees and chimed in, "If every day from now on is like this when I open my eyes, I might as well just be free from this. Now when I close my eyes, all I can see in my mind are those shadow cats pouncing at me. I'm even afraid to fall into a deep sleep."
Another person chimed in with a pained expression, "Me too. My heart races at the slightest noise, and I always feel like something's about to pounce on me. I'm almost getting monster PTSD."
Ultimately, some people couldn't hold on any longer.
He was a quiet, middle-aged tank player who was responsible for a high-pressure defensive line in the northeast corner of the Star Territory. He had been working two shifts in a row without much rest.
The man held up the large shield, which was already covered with cracks and corrosion, mechanically blocking the monsters' charge. He looked up and saw through the top edge of the shield the endless monsters outside the barrier, and next to him were the numb faces of his companions, numbed by exhaustion and despair.
In the distance, the banyan tree spirit's enormous body still resembled a mountain, yet it seemed to exude an indescribable heaviness.
This confrontation has no end; the game aims to kill everyone, and we're going to be worn down here.
The thought, like a cold, venomous snake, suddenly coiled around his heart.
He suddenly released the shield handle he had been gripping tightly, and the heavy shield slammed to the ground with a dull thud, causing several teammates nearby to turn around in surprise.
"Old Zhou, what are you doing? Did you drop your shield?" The young swordsman closest to him shouted urgently, thinking that he had exhausted himself. He retreated while defending, trying to help him pick up the shield.
Another teammate turned around, his face covered in sweat and mud: "Old Zhou, hang in there! The replacement will be here soon, and we can go rest in a bit."
Their voices and their concern, when they reached Lao Zhou's ears, seemed to be seen through a thick layer of frosted glass.
Looking at his teammates' tired and anxious faces, watching them mechanically swing their weapons, and at the endless black tide outside the barrier, he didn't pick up his shield. Instead, he threw his head back and burst into a maniacal laugh: "Haha...hahaha...shift change? Rest? Has this game ever given us any real time to rest?"
The laughter abruptly stopped. He abruptly raised his hand and pointed at the endless demons outside the barrier, roaring out his last words with all his might: "This damn world, I'm not playing along anymore!"
Before he could finish speaking, to the horror of his teammates, he suddenly turned around and, with even greater speed than when he was fending off the monsters, charged into the horde of monsters without hesitation, like a moth drawn to a flame.
His figure was instantly swallowed up, leaving only a few short, almost inaudible muffled thuds and the monster's excited howls.
The defense line was deathly silent.
The young swordsman's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, his mouth agape, watching helplessly as his comrade faced death without uttering a sound. The shield that had been with Old Zhou for so long lay quietly on the ground.
Why...why is this happening?
Everyone present felt the same confusion.
Despair began to fester and spread among the exhausted crowd, eroding the last vestiges of their will to persevere.
When the fight is no longer about victory or gain, but becomes a relentless, endless struggle for survival, the reasons to keep going are becoming increasingly weak.
In the evening, Lin Nanxing also learned about what was happening on the defensive line.
She remained silent for a long time, clutching a newly compiled report on the consumption of supplies in her hand. The edges of the paper were unconsciously crumpled from her grip. In the end, she could only let out a very soft sigh.
What can be said? Comfort? Encouragement? Faced with such boundless despair, words are as pale as paper.
In just ten days, no fewer than twenty safe zones were breached, demonstrating the game's brutality. That person simply chose the most decisive path, leaving behind this seemingly endless torment. She couldn't judge; she only felt a heavy weight in her heart, as if a stone soaked in ice water was pressing down on it.
No matter how this game turns out in the future, no matter how slim the hope seems, those who are alive must continue to live on.
Even if it's just mechanically and numbly getting through the day.
Day 12 of the Beast Tide Season.
In this extremely oppressive atmosphere, a system notification suddenly appeared on the game panels of all the surviving players.
[A fluctuation in the will to survive among all players across the entire region has been detected...]
[Analysis in progress....]
[Converting to final game mode....]
[Conditions for successful conversion: Completely eliminate (kill) all existing monsters in the current 'Beast Tide Season' version.]
[Current overall cleanup progress: 5%]
[During the mode transition, the monster spawn mechanism will be temporarily frozen. Survivors are urged to accelerate the clearing progress.]
When the cleanup progress reaches 100%, the current 'Beast Tide Season' will be forcibly ended, and the game will enter the next phase.
Good luck to all players.
The message was short, but contained an astonishing amount of information.
After digesting these few lines, the players, who had been numbly resisting, were first in a deathly silence, and then a mix of emotions suddenly overwhelmed their despair of the past few days.
"Clearing out all the monsters will end this awful season. I'm afraid I'm hallucinating from killing too many monsters."
"It's not a hallucination, it's real! Does this mean we're about to beat the game?!"
"The progress is already five percent? Did we kill them?"
"The refresh is frozen, which means that killing one means one less?! They won't just pop up out of nowhere anymore?!"
What's the next stage?
"Whatever it is, as long as these endless monsters don't appear, everything will be fine."
When Lin Nanxing saw the game notification, she breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the game wasn't about annihilation; they still had a chance. Goals were meant to be achieved, and she was confident that with the current strength of the players, they could succeed.
The game's sudden update rekindled the hopes of the surviving players, who once again threw themselves into the protracted battle against the monsters.
[Current overall cleanup progress: 10%]
More than ten days later, a group of unexpected people arrived in Star Territory.
The mayors of the five major cities once again visited the Star Territory. This time, however, they brought neither supplies nor reinforcements, but rather a small group of people with their families, looking flustered and anxious.
Lin Nanxing glanced at the player introductions of those who had entered the territory. It was obvious that this group of people were related to these mayors.
The mayor of Beihai City appeared remarkably composed and dignified at first glance, but now he looked extremely haggard, his face revealing undisguised exhaustion and embarrassment. He explained, "Lord Lin, we have no other choice. The barrier in Beihai City is constantly deteriorating. We can repair it, but the monsters are no longer dropping items. We're lacking everything: energy crystals, repair materials, weapon repair resources. The repair speed can't keep up with the rate of consumption. At this rate, we can only hold on for another ten or twenty days at most before the barrier collapses."
He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant: once the barrier was broken, facing the endless berserk demons would be a one-sided massacre.
The mayor of Nansha City gave the same reason: "We have been observing for a long time. Star Territory is currently the safest zone with the least defensive pressure and the most stable barrier. We entrust our last hope and the most important person to you. We will defend it to the last moment, kill as many people as possible, and push forward that damn progress bar."
Their words weren't exactly subtle; they were even quite blunt and cruel. They were sending their weak point to a relatively safe place, while they themselves were prepared to perish with the city after their resources were exhausted, making a final contribution to the progress of clearing out the monsters.
Looking at the elderly, children, and technicians who were clearly experts brought in, and then at the responsible persons with resolute eyes who seemed to be making their final arrangements, Lin Nanxing suddenly had an untimely question: "Wait, your barrier can only be repaired using specific materials or energy crystals dropped by monsters?"
"Of course." The mayor of Zhongyuan City gave a wry smile. His handsome face had developed several wrinkles due to the torment he had endured during this period. "The defensive barrier produced by the system can only be maintained with resources recognized by the system's rules. Monsters are no longer dropping loot, and we can't go out into the wild. The repair materials in the city's inventory are running out, so why would we be in such a hurry?"
Lin Nanxing was stunned.
She had always known that the barrier around her territory was special, not only more robust than others', but also capable of reflecting damage after being upgraded, but she had never thought much about the issue of "repairing" it.
Because the Star Territory's barrier could be repaired by directly recharging her account with game currency after its durability decreased, she had always thought this was a basic function. Only now did she realize that this was actually a unique privilege of the Star Territory.
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